You seem to have forgotten what it was that got English clubs banned from the EC for a couple years.
English hooliganism and Casual culture was way more destructive and anti-social than Ultras could ever be.

You seem to have forgotten what it was that got English clubs banned from the EC for a couple years.
English hooliganism and Casual culture was way more destructive and anti-social than Ultras could ever be.

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A) It wasn't a "couple of years" and B) the fireworks last night were enough to get Roma kicked out to begin with.

You seem to have forgotten what it was that got English clubs banned from the EC for a couple years.
English hooliganism and Casual culture was way more destructive and anti-social than Ultras could ever be.

Click to expand...

and you seem intent to let Italy get away with anything...its not a gane of comparing to see whose worst, Italy had so many warnings and its not worked.

You seem to have forgotten what it was that got English clubs banned from the EC for a couple years.
English hooliganism and Casual culture was way more destructive and anti-social than Ultras could ever be.

Click to expand...

So we have to wait until they kill someone before UEFA does anything? How many innocent supporters have to get stabbed before Roma are punished? Paltry fines don't work.

Heysel was a tragedy caused by cunts who shamed English football, and Liverpool in particular. It didn't help that the stadium was woefully ill-equipped to host a major final, but UEFA ignored the advice they were given.

Such inaction is nothing new - how about hosting recent finals in Istanbul, with a newly built stadium in the middle of a wasteland, or the ticketing and crowd control fiasco of Athens, or the absurdity of Moscow as a venue.

A final in Rome is a potential disaster. What happens if, as is not impossible, Liverpool and Man United finally meet in the final? Put those groups of pissed-up supporters, with all their history, in amongst the Ultras and the incompetent Italian police, and the possible outcome scarcely bares thinking about. For God's sake, move it to Paris or Munich.

and you seem intent to let Italy get away with anything...its not a gane of comparing to see whose worst, Italy had so many warnings and its not worked.

Click to expand...

No, clubs should be punished for things that happen within their sphere of control - like racist chants or violence inside the stadium. But everything that happens outside - like the stabbings against the Arsenal-fans - is something the police has to deal with.

Banning Italian clubs from European Cup because of incidents like that seems strange to me. Maybe it's sort of a culture clash, English football has become so safe and mainstream that the fans don't understand anymore, that sometimes travelling to an away game can be dangerous. And that's not just Italy, things like that could happen anywhere on the continent.

So we have to wait until they kill someone before UEFA does anything? How many innocent supporters have to get stabbed before Roma are punished? Paltry fines don't work.

Click to expand...

When you're talking about sanctions as severe as banning Italian clubs from the EC - which is, what I was replying to - yes, maybe. And what do you suggest Roma should to to prevent such incidents in the future? Who knows if the attackers even visit the stadium?

Heysel was a tragedy caused by cunts who shamed English football, and Liverpool in particular. It didn't help that the stadium was woefully ill-equipped to host a major final, but UEFA ignored the advice they were given.

Click to expand...

Yes, there was lots of blame to pass around regarding Heysel, and I agree that giving the final to Rome doesn't seem like a very wise decision. But Italy has taken very extreme measures to clean up their stadiums in the last few years anyway (even too extreme imo).

We probably need to remember though that the rest of Europe is probably about 20 years behind us in terms of dealing with hooliganism if for no other reason than we had to address it in earnest when we'd been kicked out of European competition.

Of course the more cynical view is that Italian clubs aren't winning anything, whereas we were winning everything in sight at the time of our banning. Wouldn't surprise me if Platini and Blatter somehow manage to contrive a situation where everything becomes our fault again, purely so that they can prevent English domination of European competition. Again. They can't stop us fairly, so in typical European fashion they'll convolute some underhanded scheme.

On the point of what constitutes 'a couple', two surely.

Regarding the final being in Rome, shouldn't really be a problem now that there's no Italian teams left in the competition. Besides, I'm sick of the finals going to European backwaters. IMO, finals should be restricted to being played in a finite selection of venues that are able to cope with the occasion. There are plenty of those around, representing England, Scotland, France, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. To see them going to logistical nightmares like Turkey or Russia, just takes the p*ss and shows that political correctness takes precedence over common sense and practicality. But then, this is Uefa, why would it be anything different......?

Anyhow, let's just look forward to all-English semi-finals. Let's face it, Barcelona are really the only other half decent side left in the competition and even they will be hard-pushed to get past United, Chelsea and Liverpool. If the draw's kind, I don't think the English four will have any problems, and I really can't see anyone other than the aforementioned three picking up the trophy.

What is it now, three teams in each of the last two seasons' semi finals? Looking like the same again this year. Platini and Blatter will be spewing no doubt. Won't be too long before we're hearing about the dangers of foreign ownership, the lack of homegrown talent, and the need for restrictions. Funny, no one was whinging when Real Madrid were doing exactly what the likes of Man United and Chelsea are now doing. Perhaps the Chuckle Brothers should also take note that Man Utd had twice the number of English players in their first eleven than Inter had in their's......

^I'd be surprised if Inter had very many English players in their line-up at all.

Interesting comment in the Metro this morning. Apparently some idiot on BBC Radio Five Live described Patrick Vieira as a "nothing player". Yeah, he's a real nothing player, never achieved anything in his life.

Well, apart from those pesky World Cup, European Championship, Premier League (x3), FA Cup (x5) and Serie A (x2 plus one that was taken away) winner's medals. Oh, and that silly Légion d'honneur the French government gave him.

Seriously though, for all Uefa's protestations, most European teams are in the same boat, and it's not necessarily made much difference to the national games of the respective nations. Italy won the WC, Spain won the EC and England, well, are still crap, but then, we almost always have been. Trying to attach reasoning to that insinuating that it's because of the 'influx' of foreign players, and the lack of 'homegrown' talent is erroneous.

Patrick Vieira, great player at Arsenal. Can't say as I've seen much of him while he's been playing in Italy though, but when I have he's not looked the same player, but then, he wouldn't, he's older, and in a different team.

^He's gotten older and he's had some fairly serious injury problems that mean he is not as dominant in midfield as he used to be. The Metro description of the conversation between the BBC's radio commentators on the Man U vs Inter game, however, made it sound like they were writing his entire career off.

Go on, BBC, insult Dennis Bergkamp while you're at it, just to make yourselves a bit more popular with Arsenal fans.